Friday, March 11, 2011

I was debating whether to call these supple, delectable discs, "tortillas," or "flatbreads," but since they were inspired by my testing of the Imusa tortilla press, seen herein, I decided to go with tortilla. This intro is dedicated to hungry SEO gurus everywhere.

Regardless of what you call them, if your only experience is with the dry, mundane supermarket varieties, you are in for a serious treat. Homemade tortillas are so much better that if you do decide to give these a try, be warned that you'll have a very hard time ever going back to the packaged option again.

Not only is the recipe very easy to make, there's no waiting hours for anything to rise, so in less than 30 minutes, you'll be enjoying the finest in hand-held meat delivery systems. Ironically, I failed to have any juicy grilled meat ready for the money shot, so I was forced to enjoy them au natural.

As I mention in the video, the hardest part of the entire procedure is rolling the dough balls into nice thin discs, but if you have a tortilla press this becomes very fast and easy. Since this post was made possible by my friends at Imusa, who also provided the press you see here, I'll included a couple links in case you want to add this apparatus to your kitchen tool collection.

I hope you give these a try soon, and your days of using store-bought tortillas comes to a warm, soft, and delicious end soon. Enjoy!

If you are interested in a tortilla press of your very own, here are a couple links:

Again, I repeat all over again. I HAVE THE COOLEST TORTILLA PRESS IN AMERICA!!!! Black walnut and chinkapin from the California coast, hand made with LOVE by my husband. I can't wait to make these, using my COOLEST tortilla press.Thank you, thank you, thank you.Chef John, you rock.BUT, my husband rocks just a little more.Jackie

I had no idea you could use a tortilla press for wheat tortillas. Sigh. I miss them probably more than pizza since I had to give up gluten. But for the benefit of J@amp;J, the method for corn tortillas is really similar. The recipe for the dough will always be on the bag of masa harina you buy. The trick is to let the dough rest for a half hour and to keep it covered or it will dry out. Otherwise all details Chef John gave here apply. They should even puff up when they cook. Use a really hot dry pan. Oh, and DON'T put corn tortillas in a commercial plastic tortilla warmer unless you use two layers of cloth in it. Those warmers are intended for commercial tortillas which are a lot lower in moisture than homemade. I made that mistake and my lovely homemade tortillas were gooey in 10 minutes.

Chef John, I heartily agree that homemade wheat tortillas are probably best just by themselves. A little frijoles refritos would be my only potential embelishment.

I just wanted to pop on and say thanks chef for the suggestion of the analon copper pans. I am absolutely In love with my new pans, they are completely nonstick & just beautiful. Best of all, I managed to grab a special at my local supply store, got two pans for about 50 bucks. Thats 10 bucks cheaper than the one calphalon unison pan I bought which was terrible (according to the guy who sold me on it, it was the best... yeah right)

Excellent timing, Chef John! I have been wanting to try out my new straight-from-Mexico tortilla press but have lacked motivation. Yesterday my husband asked if we could make Mexican food soon so we are making it tonight. I have also promised homemade tortillas so it is serendipitous that you posted this!I am hoping my new cast iron press works better than the cheapo aluminum one I was using. Bring on the frijoles!

Hey Chef--thanks for the vid recipe! You may like this idea--I like to finely chop a shallot and some fine dice garlic,add take a little dill or chopped cilantro, saute in butter, cool and add that to my dough. Gives the torts almost a indian bread/naan type flavor and texture and makes them extra special.

I just made these today for a taco night... Oh man, SO tasty! When I make this recipe again (and trust me, I will), I want to try making slightly larger tortillas, since the ones I made were a little small. But man, I can't eat make these again!

Some advice for those looking to buy a tortilla press - get one made of cast iron, or a giant block of wood. Although lighter and easier to store, the aluminum presses actually flex in the middle while pressing, and you can never get a really thin, even tortilla out of it. The aluminum is acceptible for corn torts and thicker flatbreads, but until I picked up the cast iron one, I used to have to hand-roll my flour tortillas.

To make corn tortillas, buy some masa (I use maseca: http://www.mimaseca.com/ ) and follow the directions on the pack. You'll likely experiment a bit until you get a good feeling for how moist the dough should be (too wet and it sticks, too dry and it crumbles). You absolutely have to cover your bowl with dough in plastic wrap while you make tortillas or the masa will dry out.

Making tortillas by hand isn't too hard, but the press Chef John is using is amazing. I tried various methods (including the pan-smashing technique), and its by far the easiest and most effective way to make a tortilla.

You can also make them absurdly thin, if you like, with more presses, but you need to be careful that the tortilla doesn't stick to the plastic on the press. I can't vouch for how easy this is to do for a flour tortilla - for corn, you would press, peel off the tortilla, and then repeat.

Hi! I've followed this recipe a bunch of times. But for some reason, none of my tortillas has ever puffed up. And I don't mean into a balloon. I don't even get a bubble. Should I be kneading the dough more (I only knead for a few minutes or until all of the flour is incorporated)? Or maybe the tortillas are too thick? Any ideas would be helpful!!

I actually had a little trouble with this recipe. In the four seconds between the press and the pan the tortilla goes from 1/8" thin and 8" round to about 3/8" thick and 3" circle. Makes for great sopas, but that's not what I was hoping for! We live at sea level in a very humid part of the world. Any ideas on how to keep the tortilla a tortilla?

Chef John,enjoyed the video. thank you. Two questions:1. you said to weigh the ingredients but then the measurements are given in volume. So would you just weigh, say 3/4 cup as 6 oz?2. For corn tortillas, do you still have to rest them?

I made these GLUTEN-FREE with "C4C" brand gluten-free flour and a 1/2 tsp. of xanthan gum in place of the regular flour. Rolled them with a pastry roller. No other changes, and they are perfect!!! Thanks for bringing joy into the life of someone who had given up on soft tortillas! You rock!

I'm sorry but I've tried these. Tortillas/Flat bread made with vegetable shortening, in my opinion, taste awful and I would rather have the store kind. I use the unhealthy lard in them because then they taste like tortillas. Sorry I know not all agree, but when it comes to shortening or lard both are equally healthwise not reccommended but lard definitley tastes so much better.

in Romania my grandma made these flat breads for years,the thing is after she made the dough she has a teracota stove with a steel surface for cooking and she'd put those flat breads on there and let them cook slowly,we call it "turte" (sounds wierd in english) :))) hope that will give you an idea of finding an original name,and thanks for all your hard work on this blog,i tried a lot of your receipes,they all worked,the ones that didn't work at first just made me more stuborn and tried until it all worked out fine

These are really good. I no longer mourn the loss of Rosie Guiterrez' tortilla recipe.

Only one thing. Video is great, but when I came back today because I couldn't find my recipe, I had to watch the whole dang video to get the information as to rests and dough handling. Why not print that essential information below the ingredients?

Chef John, I can't wait to try these. I'm running out to get a press tomorrow. But I was wondering, how would you make these for a crowd? I love to entertain but I like to do as must advance prep as possible. Could I make and press the tortillas ahead of time (day before or earlier in the day)and store them wrapped in plastic until I'm ready to cook? Thanks in advance! Just discover your site, can't wait to explore the rest!

Hi Chef John, Saw this video and had to try them. Purchased a tortilla maker and they came out perfectly! Made grilled shrimp tacos with chopped seeded tomato, avocado slices, lettuce and a cilantro, lime sour cream. Thank you for this tortilla recipe and video. I tried to post a photo, but couldn't figure it out. I took masking tape and put the recipe instructions, measurements and cooking instructions on the bottom of the press. Now I can reach for the press and have all of the info in need. Thought I'd pass the tip along. :)

I make these, but I just use 1 tbsp of room temp butter, for each cup of flour used, no baking soda or shorting. Wrap it in plastic wrap for 20 min, roll thin and cook on the hot skillet. They still rise and look just the same as these. They are more authentic, because they didn't have baking soda or shortening to make them back in the day.

Chef John, you are THE MAN! Thank you so much for this simple, awesome recipe. I just made them for dinner and my husband (who is Mexican) said that they were nearly identical to his mom's delicious tortillas. We filled them with scrambled eggs, potatoes, chorizo, fresh salsa, and avocado - AMAZING! The only change I made was to make 6 tortillas instead of 8 so they were a little larger. Thanks again!

I just made these really quickly (all out of baking powder though, so no balloons for me) . A little mayonnaise spread on top and a sprinkle of paprika and they're extremely delicious! Thanks for the recipe

I made these this weekend -- though I used a rolling pin because I don't have a press. I decided that I hadn't rolled out the first couple quite thing enough, so I really laid into the remaining ones -- and found that it was really quite hard to over-roll these, and the thinner I rolled them the better they turned out.

My main problem, though, was that these tasted so good that they almost out-shined the carnitas pork that I had spent five hours slow cooking! I'm sure I'll make these again, but I will have to time it for one of those nights where my wife is trying to feed me turkey tacos.

I made these to make quessadillas.....I wanted a larger tortilla so I used the recipe to make four......they rolled out surprisingly easily on a piece of wax paper....in the cast iron skillet, they puffed nicely....I flipped them frequently to control the burning, but when they were done I looked at them and realized that the small burnt spots were how they are supposed to be.....thank you for another winner, chef john! I've followed your blog for years and feel like you've given me a free culinary education!

Hi Chef John, I've been enjoying your flour tortilla recipe for some time now, but I just wanted to mention that today I tried it with virgin coconut oil (which is solid at room temp). They turned out the same as when I use veg shortening, except with a very faint scent of coconut. Filled with grilled carnitas and other toppings, I didn't really notice the coconut scent anymore unless I tried.

Hi again Chef - Green flour tortillas ^.^ I barely wilted 1 packed cup of fresh spinach then without squeezing out their water, I added them to my mini blender with 1/4 c of the warm water from your recipe. Whirled until smooth and topped up with warm water to make the 1/2 c needed plus 1 Tbls extra water to make up for the displacement. I formed 6 tortillas for sandwich wraps. So pretty and yum!

I'm guessing red flour tortillas can be made by blending tomato paste into the water. I'll try that next time!

Chef John, I'd seen and used your recipes and think you are the best! When I was searching for a flour tortilla recipe and noticed most used a lot more baking powder than in your recipe. I decided they must be over doing it and didn't bother to try them. I trust you the most, so your recipe is the one I'll be using soon.

I have no idea why I never looked up a recipe to make these at home, and I just happened upon this by accident looking for the brand of "homemade" tortillas I buy at the store which I like much more than the traditional Mission or similar brands, but they are just so expensive for the few tortillas in the package. I have these ingredients at home (planning to try butter instead of shortening) and definitely going to make these this weekend! Thank you so much for the easy recipe and great video, especially the slow-mo kneading action!

WOW!! these were very yummy. Most of mine didn't puff up but they were delicious nonetheless. I like how quick and easy they are, and I will definitely be making these again. They were amazing with hummus, but they were gone so fast I couldn't try anything else.